The present invention describes a recreational and sporting device. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of a wheeled skate for the use on roads, sidewalks, parks, stages, and the like.
Various designs of roller skates have been developed over years. Most of roller skates have a plurality of small diameter wheels beneath the sole of the skater's foot. The small diameter of the wheels have difficulties in rugged surfaces and are not suitable for high speed movement.
Skates with larger diameter wheels have been invented over a century. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 92,936 describes a pedicycle that suspends the weight of the rider or load on the top of the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 256,765 describes a pedicycle with a wheel attached on the outside. The foot boards with have curved front platforms that provide support to the feet and allows for forward moving action when struck against ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 573,096 describes a skating cycle with a large wheel mounted in a frame with a foot plate, leg-clasp and a handle-bar. By mounting a cycle on each foot, one walks by alternatively advancing and withdraw or swing back and forth one's feet.
U.S. Pat. No. 889,580 describes a roller skate with a wheel mounted on vertical metal strips adapted for foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,023,882 describes a monocycle skate with a large wheel and a frame to be attached to the leg and a sole plate to secure the foot. It has a brake block to engage the rim of the wheel when the heel is lowered.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,243 describes a mono-wheel roller skate using spring to keep the wheel on the ground to improve the smoothness of riding.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,436 describes a single wheel skate that allows the skating wheel to be adjusted between operational and nonoperational positions through permanent magnets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,493 describes a uniwheel skate which has a rim arranged to rotate about a frame. A foot support is pivotally carried by the frame and receives the rider's foot for transmission of the rider's body load to and through the frame to the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,661,682 B2 describes a sporting device with a skating wheel mounted on each foot. It uses a hand control to brake its movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,758,054 describes a roller skate that has outer, larger rollers on the side with smaller inline rollers arranged below the boot.
US patent 2010/0109266 describes a sporting device which contains a wheel, a foot support mounted on the wheel, and a biased member attached between the foot support and an upper end of the leg support.
Many patents including above mentioned explored various ways to utilize large side mount wheels for skating. However, several problems make side mount wheels difficult to use. First, the center of mass of the rider is not coincident with the supporting point when wheel is side mounted, which requires a design to maintain balance when standing and in motion. Second, the large diameter of the skating wheel makes rider difficult to control, requiring a mechanism to relay rider's force to surface. Third, to access all road conditions, it requires a convenient mechanism to convert between skating and walking mode.
The object of the invention is the provision of a transportation device that allows skating on flat surface and walking on none flat surface.
Another object of this invention is to achieve a balanced position when riding, walking, and standing.
Another object of this invention is to provide rider reliable and convenient control of the movement.